“We’re going to fight for these landowners .. for their rights,” Townsend said. “It’s time for these people to stop being bullied around.”

Townsend said no one is protecting the landowners who entered into agreements based on misrepresentation. He said people get more protection through a warranty when they buy a television set than his clients have gotten with the lease agreements. He equated the lawsuit to a “David and Goliath” type of situation.

According to the suit, the landowners entered into various gas and oil leases with O&G Investment Holdings, LLC, Wooster, Ohio, between 2003 and 2005. A total of approximately 1,200 acres of land is involved, Townsend said.

The suit alleges all landowners were told they would have an opportunity to review their respective leases before they would be notarized, but that did not happen, and the landowners were never given a chance to make appropriate changes or modifications.

The plaintiffs were “promised” O&G would reasonably develop the minerals in order to extract the minerals and pay royalties, according to the suit. However, the defendants failed to reasonably develop the mineral resources or explore any of the land for oil and gas, the suit says.

Townsend said the leases are set to expire on or around April 25, and the defendants are attempting to begin a last-minute operation.

The suit further alleges that O&G told the landowners that if they did not sign leases, O&G would drill on adjacent lands and extract their gas without paying any compensation.

In the ensuing years, the leases were assigned or sold to various companies eventually ending up with Chesapeake Exploration which then sold or assigned the leases to CHK Utica on Nov. 1, 2011, the suit says.

The suit is asking that none of the defendants be permitted to begin oil and gas extraction activities and the leases be declared null and void.

The landowners are also seeking damages in excess of $25,000.

THE OTHER LAWSUIT

Chesapeake Appalachia, L.L.C., which is a subsidiary of Chesapeake Energy Corp., also filed a lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh against six of the Darlington Township landowners because they refused to allow the company to cut down trees on their property.

That suit alleges the company has the necessary rights to commence with drilling, including tree cutting.

It says the trees must be cut down by March 31 because they are part of the hibernation area of the Indiana bat, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists as an endangered species. The agency prohibits cutting down trees in the habitat after March 31 through Nov. 1, the lawsuit says.